Unlikely Admirer
by Ultrawoman
Summary: Set Post-Season 3. Its Valentine's Day and Mac has received a card from a secret admirer. She does not seem happy about it, and Veronica attempts to find out why, as well as who sent the card in the first place... contains some LoVe, and of course Mac/?


**A/N: Yes, I know, over a week late for Valentine's Day, but what can I say? It took a while for the idea to hit me, then I had to write it, get it beta-ed, and post it. Here we are at last - hope you like! :-)**

_**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from Veronica Mars belong to Rob Thomas - they're not mine.**_

Unlikely Admirer

Who could sink so low? Mac knew a few people with questionable tastes in humour and such, and she even raised a smile for a few of their awful jokes, but this was just sick, beyond sick, it was monstrous.

In a fit of anger, pain, and tears, she threw the card in her hand, just at the moment the door to her dorm room opened, sending the projectile skittering out across the hall floor.

"Okay" the word was elongated as it came from Veronica's lips, and she turned to look behind her, "Was that aimed at me or..."

"No" said Mac bluntly, realising her potential mistake in throwing her card out into a public area.

Getting up from the edge of the bed, she pushed past her friend, went out to retrieve the card, and returned a moment later, slamming the door shut behind her. She immediately handed the card to Veronica, pacing the room and looking all kinds of mad as the blonde quickly turned her attention to the item she now held.

"Ooh, fancy Valentine" she remarked with a grin, taking in the over-glittered decoupage card that probably cost a fair few dollars considering the size of it, "'To Cindy'" she read from the inside, "'I want to be the guy that you love enough, never run when things get tough, love you like no-one else ever could, stay by your side like a real man should. Yours always,...' and then a question mark" she noted, closing the card and looking over the front once again.

"Somebody's idea of a sick joke!" snapped Mac, the moment Veronica was done reading aloud.

Veronica frowned as she now looked at her friend who had moved to sit on her bed, back against the wall and knees pulled up into her chest. Veronica could've sworn there were tears in her eyes too but for the life of her she didn't know why.

"Mac, I don't understand" she admitted, with a shake of her head as she moved to straddle the back of the abandoned desk chair, opposite her friend, "I mean, why can't this just be some guy with limited poetic talent trying to be nice or something?"

"Because this is me we're talking about, Veronica" Mac was quick, definite, and loud in her response, "Because... because this handwriting looks like... _his_" she said awkwardly, one fat tear escaping down her cheek.

Veronica was at a loss for a whole minute until she realised she had only ever seen Mac cry twice before - when she found out she was switched at birth, and the day her boyfriend left her naked and alone in a hotel room on Prom night.

"Cassidy" she said softly, the very thought of that name making her shudder from head to toe in the most awful way.

"Who would do that, Veronica?" asked Mac, almost desperately, trying her best not to cry though Veronica wondered how much of her tears same from hurt and how much from anger and frustration at her so-called admirer and herself.

"Well, let's look at this logically" she suggested, "If it was meant as a sick joke, it'd have to be someone who went to Neptune with us, otherwise they wouldn't even know about the two of you" she considered, mindful of saying too much on that subject for both their sakes, "And how many people would know or remember that your name is actually Cindy?"

"Not many, I guess" said Mac thoughtfully, "plus they know I'm here and that this is my room" she noted, since she had woken to find the card shoved under the bottom of her door.

"That ought to narrow it down..." agreed Veronica, moving to put the card down and finding she had a considerable amount of glitter all over her hands and in her lap.

The sight of it everywhere made her stop and stare a moment, taking in the luminous pink specks that covered everything.

"Veronica?" prompted Mac when her friend continued to look hypnotised by her own hands, "Is something wrong? You look... weird?"

"I, er... I have to make a phone call" she said, standing up fast, "One sec" she said, holding up one finger in demonstration and wearing a forced smile as she made for the door.

Outside the dorm room, Veronica's face went back to its more concerned expression as she pulled out her cell and speed-dialled her boyfriends number. It couldn't be him, but he could confirm who Mac's secret admirer really was, she was sure of it.

"It is my lady, it is my love" he said as he answered her call, and Veronica couldn't help but smile imagining the smirk on his face as he spoke to her.

"Very sweet, Logan" she told him, so glad that this Valentine's Day they were back together.

For all that they had been through, Veronica knew she and Logan both had been complete fools to think they could ever last very long apart. His dating Parker, her dating Piz, it was all just part of the process that ultimately led to their getting back together. Six months down the line since their reunion Summer of love, and she honestly couldn't be happier.

"So, did you call to thank me again?" he asked her, "Or are you busy cracking cases even on this special day and need a little help?"

"A little of both" she admitted, "Later you get a proper thank you, you know I promised you that" she smiled, fingers automatically playing with the gorgeous necklace he had presented her with just hours before, "but first, a question. You remember a couple of days ago at your place, there was all that awful pink glitter on the coffee table?" she didn't pause long enough for him to answer, "Well, my card was tasteful and also red, so who was writing the over-the-top pink affair in your hotel room?"

"Well, I have to say, it's refreshing to realise you don't think it's me writing cards to other woman" remarked Logan, knowing that wouldn't insult his girlfriend who was all too aware of her own trust issues just the same as he was, "but by process of elimination, I'm gonna go with Dick"

"As did I" agreed his girlfriend, "but what bothers me is did he just write this one or a whole box to every girl on campus..." she said thoughtfully, as she leant her back against the wall by Mac's closed door and contemplated the situation.

"This one?" her boyfriend echoed, "Dick sent you a Valentine's card?"

There was an astonishment in Logan's tone that might have been insulting were Veronica not so definite in the fact that a) she did not want a Valentine's card from Dick in this lifetime or any other, and b) the blond really did not like her much and never had.

"Not me" she confirmed, "Mac"

There was silence on the end of the line, and Veronica was just about to ask if Logan was still there when he suddenly spoke.

"I think it was one card" he said, surprising his girlfriend somewhat, "And for what it's worth, I think he might actually be for real" he explained, "Veronica, Dick's changed... _a lot_. Topics of conversation were always girls, beers, surfing, and video games... which you know I respect, but lately he's more... I don't know, serious? And he does mention our dear little Cindy more than a little"

"Okay" nodded his girlfriend, though of course he couldn't see that, "At least now we know" she said thoughtfully, already wondering how she was going to break this to Mac.

How would she take the news that her dead ex's idiot brother was sending her V-Day cards, and perhaps actually meaning to be nice?

* * * * *

Mac was a woman possessed as she stormed up to the hotel room door and slammed her hand against it in place of a polite knock. She could scream right now, she was probably going to, but not until she was facing him and tearing him a new one...

"Mac..." said Logan as he opened the door, only to have her storm right by him, eyes flashing angrily and damp with tears he didn't want to see.

"Where is he?" she demanded to know, the harshness of her tone not really suiting her voice, her friend's boyfriend noted as she flew around the hotel suite.

"Er, my BFF Dick?" he asked, as if he didn't know, "In his room, as far as I know" he said, reaching over to his jacket that was laying on the back of the couch, "Wish I could stay for the fireworks but..." he said then, backing out of the door without further comment, and leaving the unlikely couple to their inevitable fight.

Mac took a moment to breath before storming into Dick's room and throwing something at his head before he even had a chance to register who was there. He ought to have heard the yelling in the next room, but honestly, laid out on his bed with the TV blaring and his mind all otherwhere, he hadn't paid much attention to the noise, and just assumed it was Ronnie getting mad at Logan - it happened a lot, as far as he could tell.

"Woah" he reacted fast, the projectile spinning past his head like an over-sized throwing star and then landing on his pillows.

"What the hell is this?!" Mac demanded to know, "Some sick joke? Some crappy attempt at humour? Tell me, Dick, please, I'd love to know"

To his credit, the guy didn't look like he was laughing, in fact he almost looked hurt as he sat up on the bed and retrieved the card she'd aimed at him. It was somewhat the worse for wear by now, not quite the shining example of Valentine's love it had seemed when he bought it at the store. Something told Dick he wasn't the first one to have this card thrown at him.

"Hey, chillax, Mac" he told her, probably not the brightest of things to say to a very angry and upset young woman but then Dick never had been the sharpest knife in the drawer, "I wasn't making a joke" he told her seriously, which only seem to upset her more.

"Was I supposed to feel bad? Were you trying to hurt me? Reminding me of... of _him_, today of all days?" she asked desperately, hating that anything Dick Casablancas could do would be able to hurt her this much, but it had and it did.

"You think I'm that low?" asked the man himself, his expression hardening at the merest vague mention of his dead brother, "You think that's what this was for?" he asked her, almost as upset as she was by now it seemed, "I thought you were the smart chick among us" he said bitterly, shaking his head.

He was on his feet then, dropping the card to the floor as he pushed past her, jostling her shoulder however accidentally as he left the room.

Mac stood a moment, unbalanced both outside and in, head spinning with a possibility she had not allowed her brain to conjure until this moment. Dick liked her.

She was the smart chick, that's what he'd just said, but right now Mac felt as dumb as... well, as dumb as she'd always assumed Dick was, truth be told. Now she was starting to wonder about him. She had to admit, he seemed to be changing lately. They didn't share space and time that much but when they had ended up at the same event or in the same room they got along okay. He was different in some ways, maybe a little less crass, a little less drunk. The more Mac thought on it, the more she realised she and Dick had become some kind of hybrid acquaintance-friends, caught somewhere in limbo between the two definitions, as they were forced to spend time thanks to Veronica and Logan's reformed relationship and all.

Mac's mind was running a mile a minute as she picked up her card, turned and walked out of Dick's bedroom, back into the main room where he was now sat staring at the blank TV screen there. He looked hurt and that was her fault. She owed him an apology, but at the same time, surely he owed her an explanation.

"I'm sorry" she said as she came to stand beside the TV, not wanting to be directly in his eye-line right now, but making sure he could not deny hearing and seeing her, "Dick, I just didn't..."

"You just didn't think I could actually be a human being, right?" he challenged her, almost as angry and upset as she had been on entering the hotel suite, and the worst of it was she couldn't entirely blame him.

Leave it to Mac to assume something simple and sweet as a Valentine's Day card was naturally sinister and a mean trick on her. She couldn't for a moment believe she was worthy of affection, and she certainly couldn't take in the concept that such an emotion would come from Dick Casablancas of all people!

"It's not like that" she said, feeling exhausted by the events of the past couple of hours from the moment she had found the card underneath her door to now, "I guess I just wasn't expecting... anything" she said, feeling stupid as she found some bravery and walked over to sit the other end of the couch.

Dick shifted further into his own corner, apparently willing to sulk like a kid if needs be, and really just proving the immaturity he was trying to leave behind. In a time of pain and crisis, people reverted to type it seemed. They took a familiar path, and Dick's, like most rich kids, was to pout and sulk.

"Dick..." said Mac, considering reaching a hand out to his shoulder but retracting it within a moment, thinking better of it, "I'm sorry, okay?" she tried, "You just caught me off-guard, I guess"

There was only silence in response to what she'd said, and after a long moment that only grew more awkward, Mac decided enough was enough. It was bad enough trying to wrap her head around the concept that Dick actually liked her in that way, without sitting here whilst he got more angry at her for suspecting him of a nasty joke. A year ago, he probably would have proudly claimed his prize as Ass-King of the Universe, but now he was burned by her accusing words, injuries apparently not at all healed by her seemingly lame apology.

With a sigh, she moved with a view to standing up and leaving, but his words kept her seated as he finally spoke.

"I didn't know how else to tell you" he said, sounding every bit the lost little boy right now and looking it too as Mac turned her head to see, "I never did this before" he said, eyes down as he shifted awkwardly, feeling dumber than he ever had in his life.

"Never did what?" she asked him, her voice too soft in her own ears, especially after all the yelling she'd been doing moments before.

"Actually liked a girl?" said Dick as he glanced her way, a weird kind of a smile playing at his lips, "Y'know, like, _like her_ like her" he explained, at which she found a slight laugh escaping her lips.

"That's a lot of like" she said as she tried to take in what he was saying, barely getting a chance to process before he spoke again.

"That's the scary part" he admitted, knocking Mac for another loop, whether he realised it or not.

This was all so ridiculous and incredible and mind-blowing. Here was Dick Casablancas, her dead ex's brother, who had made her life miserable every time she had been over at his house with Cassidy. He never liked her, always saw her as someone to make fun of, and after the event that was always to be unmentioned, he blamed her, in spite of the fact she had been as much a victim in this an anybody else.

Lately, they got along civilly, more or less, mostly because they had to, what with his best friend dating hers... again! Still, she had seen the trail of bimbos he had dated, made out with, slept with. A long line of blondes, brunettes, and red-heads, all legs and boobs, mostly lacking in the brain department, and with 'easy' practically stamped on their asses. Mac was so far removed from what she had always considered to be Dick's type, and yet here he was admitting she was the first person he had ever really _liked_. She was astounded, and could only do one thing at this point.

"Why?" she asked, catching his attention in the silence, "I mean, why do you like me?" she clarified, almost wondering if she really wanted the answer but asking anyway because she just couldn't not, "You always hated me..."

"No, I didn't" he interrupted, shaking his head, "I had to be that way, for a long time. I couldn't deal after Beav..." his voice disappeared at the merest mention of his brother and he started over a different way, "I had to blame somebody. You were the only person who would care if I yelled at you about it so..." he tried to explain, hating that he'd hurt her, hating it more that he was having to talk about it now, "I'm sorry, Mac" he said, reaching out a hand to her arm, glad when she didn't pull away.

"I know" she replied, forcing a smile that didn't come easy at first.

On instinct, her hand moved to cover his where it sat on her arm, and the curve in her lips was genuine enough when his fingers turned to grip her own. It was the weirdest moment as she looked up at him through her lashes, meeting his eyes and realising he was smiling too.

They were connecting, after far too long, and it was a good feeling. Still, Mac knew she couldn't stay here, couldn't handle too much of this all at once. It was still shocking to realise she was actually contemplating a relationship, even of the friends variety, with Dick. It was crazier still to think he had been considering her as a potential girlfriend for a while now.

"I should go" she said, perhaps too suddenly as she practically jumped to her feet and moved quickly towards the door, "Er, thank you, for this" she told him, waving the card in her hand as she picked it back up from the table, "and I am sorry, for before" she repeated as he opened the door for her and she stepped out into the hall.

"That's cool" he nodded his reply, watching her turn away just a second before immediately calling her back, "Mac?"

"Yeah" she said, turning back to look at him, waiting to here whatever he had to say now.

"One other thing, before you go" he said, shifting awkwardly a moment before continuing, "Could you maybe close your eyes?" he asked her, seeing immediately a flash of fear in the very baby blues he spoke of, "Trust me" he urged her, and though perhaps Mac ought to have known better, she steeled herself against what came next and let her eyelids fall shut.

No sooner was she stood there, eyes shut and waiting, than she felt his lips brush her own. It was supposed to be a single sweet kiss, a brief moment that Dick knew he ought not to go for but just couldn't help himself. He'd wanted to get close to her so long, he could risk this, sure she wouldn't slap him, hoping she wouldn't run away. What he wasn't expecting was for Mac to lean into the contact, proving that one kiss was not enough for her. His hand went to her hair, holding her close as they stayed connected at the lips, not a deep kiss but none the less meaningful to both of them. This they were both sure of as she opened her eyes and they faced each other again.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Mac" he told her, actually proud of himself for what he'd achieved today.

For once in his life, Dick wanted to get this right. The kiss was good, he hadn't pushed his luck, and he'd made it clear he liked the girl without offering her sex. The Valentine's card had been worth every penny, Mac's yelling at him had been worth the hurt. She was worth everything, that he could not doubt as she stood before him, blushing a pretty pink, and smiling still.

"Yeah, Happy Valentine's Day" she echoed back, giving an odd little wave as she turned to walk away.

Just before the elevator, Mac's hand went subconsciously to her lips as she replayed what had just happened here. Today was officially the weirdest day of her life, but she didn't hate it. In fact, as she turned around in the elevator, and saw Dick still leant in the doorway watching her, she was sure life was about to get a lot more interesting and just maybe a whole lot happier too.

- The End -


End file.
